


Heavy Weight

by ladyxdaydream



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Universe, Found Family, Gen, Iruka-centric, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 08:36:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22493182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyxdaydream/pseuds/ladyxdaydream
Summary: Iruka had just received orders to help detain Naruto on the hidden island in Cloud.While he was flattered Lady Tsunade thought Naruto would listen to him, Iruka knew better.  Because if there was anything Iruka understood well, it was Naruto.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Umino Iruka, Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 21
Kudos: 98
Collections: New Beginnings - Umino Hours





	Heavy Weight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [radkoko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/radkoko/gifts).



> This is a bit different from all of my other work, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! It’s a moment I’ve been curious to write about for a while. 
> 
> Written for radkoko for The Umino Exchange, who requested a fic with Iruka & Naruto and/or Iruka & Kakashi with a bit of found family. I hope you like it!! :)

Iruka toed his shoes off at the door and crossed the small expanse to his desk. Despite it being two in the afternoon, he clicked on the lamp.

It was dark in Konoha. It’s  _been_ dark in Konoha. It seemed the sky was withholding the sun, as if the world itself was dreading the oncoming war. 

Iruka took a seat at his desk, rubbing his temples, replaying the conversation he had with the Hokage a few hours ago. While he was flattered Tsunade thought Naruto would listen to him, Iruka knew better. Sending him would be fruitless. Though Iruka had to agree, if there was a chance of Naruto listening to anyone, it’d probably be him. But Naruto  _didn’t_ listen to anyone—he took advice to heart, sure, but in the end he did whatever the hell he wanted. 

Naruto was infuriatingly stubborn, a trait that Iruka reluctantly recognized he could have passed on to his precious student—something Kakashi pointed out to him the last time they had dinner as he politely listened to Iruka complain.

If that was their only problem it would be fine, but it wasn’t. Iruka simply wasn’t strong enough to contain Naruto. It wasn’t a slight against his barrier ninjutsu—at which Iruka was considered among the best—it was the fact that Naruto surpassed his power a long time ago along with everyone else in the damn village. Some days Yamato’s mokuton couldn’t even hold him. 

Iruka knew the mission was going to fail, and he hadn’t even left yet.

With a heavy sigh, he pulled a sheet of parchment out of a side drawer and placed it on the desktop. This letter would be written in one draft. Iruka knew exactly what he wanted to say. There was only one thing _to_ say. If Iruka survived this war, he wanted Naruto beside him. (Hell, even if he didn’t survive, he wanted Naruto to; he  _needed_ him to.) 

Iruka flipped his pen around in his fingers, remembering when his relationship with Naruto had transitioned from sensei and student to one of family. 

It wasn’t the copious bowls of the ramen he’d buy him after class, or the horrible shuriken incident. While that brought them closer together—Naruto overhearing Iruka’s heartfelt admissions—what set the tone for their interactions to come was the results of Kakashi’s bell test. 

Iruka had run into Naruto shortly after the test, his arms laden with groceries. Instead of being excitedly yelled at in the street until the sun went down, Iruka had brought Naruto to his apartment to cook him a celebratory dinner. He stood over the stove while Naruto finished recanting the entire day: from getting caught in traps, to using his shadow clones, to how  _cool_ Kakashi-sensei was with his substitution jutsu’s. How he could read (icha icha, much to Iruka’s horror) while deflecting Naruto with lightening speed taijutsu, something that seemed to both fascinate and infuriate Naruto. 

With a little prodding, Iruka discovered that Naruto had mixed feelings about his new sensei, which peaked Iruka’s interest seeing as Iruka had gone to Hiruzen that very day to inquire about the jonin. He wanted to address an unsettling rumor he’d heard: Kakashi failed every single student he had ever tested. Iruka was concerned he’d fail Naruto as well, crushing the boy’s spirit, but when the late Hokage had softly asked him to not hold it against Kakashi if that were the case, Iruka couldn’t help his budding curiosity about the man.

Naruto’s description of Kakashi did nothing to squash it. Iruka went from outraged (Kakashi telling three of Iruka’s students he hated them on first impression), to appalled (the one thousand years of death), to protective (withholding food, insulting his students), and finally, something between wonder and amusement when Naruto revealed that the real test was the importance of teamwork. 

(Later in their developing friendship, Iruka would chide Kakashi for summoning a thunderstorm to scare his students shitless, only to tell them they passed, because _ how dramatic could someone be._ The answer, Iruka came to find over many years, was  _very)._

Iruka had thought of himself as Naruto’s older brother after that night, despite feeling like there were so many times he was unable to protect him from harm. 

And now Iruka had to inflict his own harm on the boy. 

He was going to have to lie to him. 

He curled his lip, unhappy with the prospect. If it were up to him, he’d tell Naruto the truth about Madara’s plan to attain the nine-tails and the end of the world as they knew it. Try and make Naruto understand that this war was to protect him, and that by protecting him, they were protecting the future of humanity. 

Iruka leaned over his desk and bit into his pen, laughing at himself. 

Who was he kidding? 

That admission would only strengthen Naruto’s resolve. Even though much had changed since Kakashi’s bell test six years ago, one thing still remained true: Naruto had a tendency to act alone.

Iruka sighed again, and pressed his pen to the paper.

When he was finished, he folded it into a small square and secured it in a hidden pocket of his vest. There was a soft knock on the door, and Iruka got up to answer it slowly, already knowing who’d be on the other side. Iruka knew he’d come to check on him. After all, he had confided in the jonin earlier this morning. Kakashi found him sitting on a bench outside the Academy attempting to chew a hole in his cheek. 

“How’d it go?” Kakashi asked from his lean against the door frame.

“It’s finished,” was all Iruka said, his words stripped of emotion.

Kakashi knew what it contained anyway, and even though this letter could be perceived as treasonous if it fell into hands outside of Naruto’s, Kakashi hadn’t discouraged him from writing it. Something Iruka had appreciated immensely. They both knew what it was like to lose people to war and the aching hole it left. If this gave Iruka the tiniest bit of comfort, Kakashi would never deny him it. 

Iruka felt Kakashi’s eye on him. Most people feared the Sharingan, and for good reason, but Iruka feared his real eye, his  _own_ eye. It had a way of seeing straight past Iruka’s defenses, no dōjutsu required, and deep into his soul.  


He steeled himself to meet it but it was futile. Within seconds his armor fell, and suddenly he was on the brink of tears. 

The note felt like a heavy weight against his chest. 

“I don’t have much time,” Kakashi said, his voice going soft, “but I can keep you company for a little while.”

Unlike himself, Iruka knew Kakashi would be sent to the front lines. He tried to quell the uneasy feeling that this could possibly be the last time he saw Kakashi too, depending on how the war went. 

Iruka knew he shouldn’t keep him, there was so much to prepare still, but he let himself be selfish for once. Kakashi had become the closest person to him outside of Naruto—he needed a few minutes with his friend, even if it was only in companionable silence. 

“Please,” Iruka said, his voice tight. 

He wanted to recite the last line he wrote in the letter to Kakashi too, but he swallowed it down, unable to vocalize it. 

Instead he stepped back to let Kakashi through. 

“I’d like that.”   
  


* * *

“ _Naruto. Knowing you, you will rush to the battlefield. That’s how determined you are. If you are reading this letter, it means I wasn’t able to stop you. Ever since Lady Tsunade ordered me to detain you on Cloud’s secret hidden island I’ve had this letter ready, just for this purpose. I’m disappointed in myself for failing my mission. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to get you this note, but there’s something you need to hear from me. You’ve gone off, so this is the only thing left to say: Come back alive, no matter what.”_

**Author's Note:**

> As always, any and all of your feedback is highly appreciated. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> Come find me on [tumblr](https://ladyxxdaydream.tumblr.com/)!!
> 
> ((Shout out to my friend Hannah (surveycorpsjean), who planted a seed in my mind. And to Gloomier, who is always there for me, no matter what))


End file.
